The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 21, 2010
Filed:
Dec. 11, 2008
Ryan Michael Stenson, Washington, DC (US);
Daniel J. Braun, San Diego, CA (US);
Lonnie A. Hamme, Jamul, CA (US);
Christopher D. Mailey, Durham, NC (US);
Ryan Michael Stenson, Washington, DC (US);
Daniel J. Braun, San Diego, CA (US);
Lonnie A. Hamme, Jamul, CA (US);
Christopher D. Mailey, Durham, NC (US);
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy, Washington, DC (US);
Abstract
In various embodiments, an apparatus for use in the recovery of unmanned underwater vehicles includes a recovery vehicle configured to be coupled to a winch via a tether. The recovery vehicle includes one or more sensors for locating the unmanned underwater vehicle, a first mechanical linking device for coupling the recovery vehicle to the unmanned underwater vehicle, and a plurality of steering mechanisms for actively guiding the unmanned underwater vehicle in such a way as to allow the first mechanical linking device to capture the unmanned underwater vehicle by locking onto a second mechanical linking device of the unmanned underwater vehicle.